MY PLATE - A new look at nutrition

The students had blast learning about nutrition with the new My Plate model. This model replaced the old Food Pyramid.  The idea is to get students thinking about what each meal should look like. There is a big emphasis on having half the plate comprised of fruits and vegetables. 

Visit www.choosemyplate.gov to print out your own My Plate diagram to keep in your kitchen or classroom. Encourage your children to help with meal planning and checking to make sure all food groups are represented in appropriate amounts on your plate. 

The students also incorporated fitness into this activity my jogging along the nutrition speedway to collect a food card.  While the other students waited, each student had a chance to lead their group in an exercise of their choice. 

Teacher Tip: I bought these great My Plate banners with pockets from School Specialty but you can visit the website and ask for free colored posters. The cards are also awesome which are part of the Focused Fitness curriculum. This curriculum is new to our school this year and I LOVE it! You cold make your own if you are a real go getter!

The students raced to see which group could collect at least one card for each category. We also talked about things that are not found on the plate such as empty calories. In my class we call these sometimes foods. They are foods that add calories to your intake but offer no nutritional value. After cards were collected we created our own breakfast, lunch (that could be packed), and dinner as a class. 

 Here is an example of a packed lunch one class created. 

Questions: 

1. Does your plate typically match these recommendations?
2. Do you like the new model better than the old?
3. Do you see yourself incorporating this in your household or classroom?

Nutzy's Rotary FUNN Run - December 7th!

Check out this GREAT family fitness opportunity! If your child or your family participates in this race or any upcoming community fitness events, send in a picture to add to the Family Fitness Wall. Your child will earn a small prize from the Physical Education Prize Basket!

SCOOTER HOCKEY

K-5

HOCKEY SKILLS, TACTICS AND POSITIONS

  

The students completed two weeks of hockey using long handed sticks. In order to effectively teach tactics and positions for the game of hockey I like to use scooters.  This slows down the movement of the students so everyone isn’t swarming around the ball. It also provides a great workout for the lower extremities.

Teacher Tip: Divide the playing area into three zones using floor tape.

Divide the class into three groups. I have a yellow team, a blue team and a sideline team.

Color code the goals using cones.

The students had the opportunity to play many different positions.  They played in a designated playing space on the hockey court.

• Goalie
• Defense
• Offense
• Midfield

The fitness focus for the side line players was to work on cardiorespiratory endurance. We talked about howthere is a wall on an ice hockey court that the puck bounces off.  The sideline team acted as this wall and gently kicked the ball back into play if it went out of bounds near them. They had to keep moving by performing a cardiorespiratory exercise such as running in place, jumping jacks or imaginary jump rope.

Teacher Tip: Star Students are students who are on task and demonstrating proper components of the skill you are teaching. After each round choose a rock star exerciser and a rock star hockey team player to receive a star sticker.

Rather than use one ball like a traditional game I use three. This allows the students to have more opportunities to demonstrate the skills they have learned. It also keeps them moving more. Students strived to demonstrate the following tasks to earn a star student sticker. 

• Move to open space
• Gain control of the ball before passing or scoring
• Look for open teamates
• Call a teamate's name before passing to them

Teacher Tip: Adaptations for students with special needs: I often add a fourth ball that is larger and a different color. The students know this is the superpower ball. Whenever this ball comes their way they pass it back to the designated

student. This allows them more chances to strike the ball and keeps other students from stealing the ball 

Stick Handling Skills - Floor Hockey

Stick Handling Skills – Floor Hockey

K-2 explored ways to control the ball using hockey sticks with foam blades to ensure safety. They learned to stick handle the yarn ball through the gym while using both sides of the hockey stick. During the second week they learned how to score the ball into the net. They learned about the face of their hockey stick.  They imagined drawing a smiley face on the blade and pointing the eyes in the direction they wanted the ball to go.

Teacher Tip: I use the small dense yarn balls since they move slow but are still dense enough to roll. This gives the students better control. I love the foam hockey sticks for the little ones since it is hard for them to remember to keep the stick down low. This way you don’t have any injuries!

Students in 3-5 expanded on the skills they learned during previous years. These students used plastic hockey sticks and worked on keeping their blades below their waist to ensure safety.

Teacher Tip: I use the safety rule “HIGH STICKS are MY STICKS.” If a student knows they raised their stick above the hip they bring me their stick and check out for one minute.  If I see a high stick and they do not check out then I ask them to check out to reflect for 2 minutes. I find that the students are very honest and mostly they move themselves to the reflection zone when needed.

They began with basic stick handling and progressed to controlling the ball while maneuvering through and around various obstacles in the gym. They focused on components such as: grip, posture, eyes, using both sides of the stick and letting the ball lead the way.

Teacher Tip: I set up spots, triangle cones and sets of three dome cones.

Spots: Count the number of times you can control the ball across a spot

Triangle Cones: Count the number of u-turns you can make around triangle cones

Dome Cones: Count the number of times you can Zig-zag through a set of dome cones

I have three different color hockey sticks so each color is assigned a task and then we switch.

The students then learned how to control the ball while avoiding defenders who were trying to steal their ball. When a defender got their ball and controlled it for at least three taps that person then became a defender. If the defender hit the ball out of bounds the ball went back to the original owner. The students discussed strategies such as turning their back to the defender, moving to open space, keeping the ball moving at all times and looking up while dribbling.

On the second week students moved to stations. They worked on dribbling the ball then shooting it into the net and two of the stations. One stations was set for students to practice passing. The fourth station was a focus of cardio stepping and upper body strength with stretch bands. 

We will move on to scooter hockey to help students learn about position players and strategies.

Fitness Focus: Body Composition

BODY COMPOSITION

K-5

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAT MASS AND FAT-FREE MASS

The students learned about body composition by participating in an activity where the collected pounds of fat and pounds of muscle by moving around the room at taking from other hoops. This way they were learning while also working on cardiorespiratory endurance.

K-1worked as a small group to count the pounds and determine if the patient had more pounds of fat or more pounds of muscle. They learned that a healthy body composition has more pounds of muscle than fat.

2-3 worked to see if the patient had a healthy body composition with about 3-4 pounds of muscle per 1 pound of fat. They determined if the patient needed more energy in (food) or more energy out (exercise).

4-5 determined if the patient’s body composition was a healthy ratio of about 3-4 pounds of muscle for each pound of fat. They then discussed any health risks the person might have due to their body composition and what advice they could offer the pretend person to help improve their body composition.

Which patient has a healthy body composition?

Hula Hoop= Imaginary Patient

Dot = 1 pound of body fat

Ball = one pound of muscle

Recommended 3-4 lb of muscle per 1 lb of fat

Welcome!

I am excited to start my very first blog. I hope this blog serves as a communication tool for parents and students. I am also hoping to use it to share ideas with other Physical Educators. It will feature lessons from Physical Education class, community fitness opportunities and much more.